Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Finally, the Buds Ride...

Wait, didn't I use that heading last year? I can't believe we are now almost two months into the Bud's season, and I have only now made it out to the Wednesday ride. On a positive note, it was good to see that no one has slacked off in my absence. On the negative side, there was a bad solo rider crash at the bottom of the hill in Bonelli. A gal, who had to have been about mid-field, though maybe on the right side of the bunch went down, probably after hitting one of the pot holes at that intersection. The rider was sitting at the side of the road, and no one had stopped, nor appeared to be stopping. When I realized what had happened I swung around, and a little further ahead another rider did the same. A third rider coming downhill stopped to see if she could help as well.

In true dedicated roadie fashion, the crashed rider was more concerned about her bike than anything else (I believe she said it was a week old). A driver also stopped with some bottled water and paper towels. A lot of road rash - both legs, both arms, face, rear - is going to make for an uncomfortable, sore few days, but all that appeared to be the worst of it (the bike seemed fine). A Sheriff's deputy came by and he got the lifeguard with first aid stuff. Leisel came along, then quickly left to get her car in order to give the crashed rider a lift.

I can't say I did much more than stand around and look concerned, and pick up some of the debris - water bottle, sunglass pieces - but I certainly was not going to leave her alone at that point. You know I switched teams this year, to SC Velo, and looking around at all the riders who eventually stopped to help or see if they could do anything, and notice how many were wearing SC Velo or Incycle kit, was actually pretty heartening.

So I finally made it out to Bud's this year, which turned out to be short and, unfortunately, not sweet. Thankfully, for everyone, there is always next week. Hope the crashed rider makes a speedy recovery and can rejoin us soon.